Tag Archives: Full Court

The Baseball Pass is one of the passes in basketball that players will experiment with by default. In attempting to generate more power for a longer pass or to try and accelerate the ball faster when passing the fundamental action of the Baseball Pass will often be employed by players. Teaching the technique early therefore is something that can cut off any possible problems before they become immediate concerns.

There are a number of teaching points that will assist in maximising the performance of this technique. These include:

Pass out of a Triple Threat Stance: As with all passes having players practice passing out of a triple threat stance initially will assist in creating balance and control. As players develop the coordination to perform the Baseball Pass more effectively the pass can always be practiced from a running start so players become accustom with passing using the technique on the run.

In the picture above controlling the ball in one hand for a Baseball Pass is difficult and needs practice. The Baseball Pass is often employed for longer passes in the full court (Photo Source: Expert Infantry)

Bring the Back over the Passing Arm: The Baseball Pass is a one handed passing action. Players will need to be comfortable with controlling the ball in on hand. This action will help in generating power to perform the pass through creating a larger range of motion in the shoulder and activating more muscles.

For younger players this maybe a struggle in performing the Baseball Pass correctly as the weight of the basketball itself may cause issues with supporting the basketball only with one hand.

Rotate at the Hips so Non-throwing Shoulder Points to Target: This action in the technique is one of the important aspects for generating power. This action will also help the passer to line up their body with the intended target improving control and accuracy.

Step Forward to Target as the Passing Side Hip Rotates Back and Towards the Target: The snapping action caused as the player steps forward and rotates the hips will generate significant amounts of power. This allows the energy generated in the feet and legs to be coordinated so the force flows through the body and into the passing arm.

Lead with Elbow and Extend Arm Fully to point at Target: Fully extending the arm will allow for maximum power to be imbedded into the basketball at the time of the pass. Extending the arm also plays another important role in helping direct the basketball towards the target. If the player ensures that their passing arm points to the target the ball will be more likely to head in this direction.

Snap Wrist to put Backspin on the Ball: Backspin on the basketball helps the player receiving the pass to catch the ball and have it stick in the palms of the hands. Fingers of the passing hand should finish point to the ground. The stronger the snapping action the more backspin that will be imparted onto the ball and assist in keeping the ball at the low trajectory during the flight of the ball.

The Baseball Pass is a solid technique for passing in the full court. Often employed as a way of advancing the ball fast up the floor.

Passing on the run will allow the Baseball Pass to become for beneficial to teams in fast break or primary transition phases of play. This is one of the more difficult scenarios to execute the pass however and some practice will be required to perform he action and master keeping the ball low and flat while in the air between passer and receiver.

On offense, Small Ball can help create mismatches in speed and agility through on-ball screens and driving actions (Photo Source: USAG- Humphreys)

Small Ball is the name given to a style of basketball were height and low post play is at a minimum. Small Ball has evolved because a number of reasons in the modern game of basketball as the sport spreads across the globe. Obviously, at the junior level Small Ball is all about just not having access to genuine Centres and Power Forwards. At the professional level Small Ball has been the basis for a theme of play that pits high intensity and effort base game play, against the traditions of the five players, with five distinctive roles.

Because Small Ball has now become a recognised philosophy within the sport of basketball a whole myriad of strategies and layers within this style of play have developed as a consequence. The richness of strategy has now developed so far that for many coaches this is the only way to play. Therefore, there are some characteristics of Small Ball and we will explore these now.

Extended Defence

Filling a court with players who lack height means that a coach must compensate with other attributes. Some of these are commonly speed, agility and intensity. All of which make extending a team’s defence into the full court a natural progression. Teams using a strategy of Small Ball can frequently and quickly move through the full range of defensive coverage variations that are available on a basketball court.

Match-up Defence

Because Small Ball basketball allows for very similar body types to be on the court at once matching up on defence can be approached with a little more flexibility (within reason). This means that match-up defences (like zones or presses) can be used with a great deal of success. Opposition offenses must learn to truly beat a system rather than attacking the weakest player on the defensive team.

Switching

One of the fantastic aspects of Small Ball defence is that switching can be a strength, and not a weakness. When playing with like players the ability to switch in many different defensive scenarios becomes a very easy and significant advantage. Small Ball in this context allows for better defensive coverage that in turns allows a more pressure focused defensive mindset to be employed.

Run and Gun

The phases of Fats Break, Primary, and Secondary Transition can be played at a very high tempo when playing Small Ball. This I because players as highlighted earlier need to be able to compensate with some other attributes rather than height. Think of this as finding ways to compete. So instilling a pushing the ball up the floor mentality with quick shooting opportunities help work to the strengths of Small Ball.

High Post

Just because a team employs a strategy of Small Ball does not mean that all offense from within the keyway goes out the window. One of the more favourable locations through which to still generate offense from, if undersized, is in the High Post. Facing up to the basket for high post players will assist with engaging an opponent outside of their comfort zone if they mostly guarding players in back to the basket positions. Add to this high post game play like catch and shoot, fake, fake and drive, and counters and a traditional keyway defender can be in all sorts of trouble.

Small Ball provides an opportunity for teams to try to magnify their strengths while reducing the exploitation of their weaknesses. This is really an underpinning value for all teams; it is just that with Small Ball the areas of disadvantage are a little easier to see.

A well executed Zone Defence can help teams with elements such as Doubling or Trapping (Photo Source: jmrosenfeld)

A Zone Defence is just one of a large array of options that a coach has during a game. If you do not have an “array of options” then you probably need to think about how you will manage a wider range of situations defensively. A Zone Defence, like all defences has strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the type of defence implemented there will be certain tactical situations in which you will use this strategy to put opponents at a disadvantage. No matter the formation or tactics, there are some times though during a game when a “Zone” can be a good option to change to.

Opposition is on a Scoring Run

If an opposition is continuing to pull away from your team during a game then a switch in the defensive strategy might be the catalyst for something to happen. Of course, calling a time out and refocusing the team around the current strategy is an option as well, but sometimes a change can break the rhythm of the opposition.

Most teams utilise a man-to-man defence as the primary weapon and Zone Defence works best as a rotation defence. By using a Zone Defence sparingly, an opposition will struggle with the free form of a man-to-man defence and then the structure of a Zone Defence. Exposing an opposition in this way also creates the option for a coach to extend the use of the Zone Defence longer if the impacts to offensive output are ongoing.

Extending into the Full Court

A Zone Defence in the quarter court works very well when paired with a similarly structured full court defence such as a zone press. If a team is looking to push their opponents further up the floor then the use of a Zone Defence might be the answer. Being able to collapse back into a familiar structure can sometimes be a struggle for teams when rotating out of the full court back to the half court when using a man-to-man defence. Having a set structure like a Zone Defence often helps with this transition.

Trapping in the Half Court

Trapping can often be a challenging scenario especially in a man-to-man defence. Players become confused on where they should be or what they could be doing. Providing the structure of a Zone Defence can overcome this confusion as players have more clearly defined roles and locations to fill within the defence. These roles are not only relevant to a position on the court, but the other players on their team as well. This makes it easy for players to be able to recognise the play as it is unfolding in front of them.

Players in Foul Trouble

One of the key features of most Zone Defences is that they work on the principle of having two or three lines of defence between the ball and the basket. This means that there are one or two lines of help defence to assist the player match-up against the ball handler at any one time. For this reason, a player who is experiencing some difficulty with foul trouble can be “hidden” to some degree within a Zone by being placed off the ball and in one of the help defence positions.

Slowing the Tempo of the Game

A Zone Defence can be used to also slow the tempo of a game. This however is based upon the assumption that the opposition is having trouble scoring against the Zone Defence or that they have not seen it regularly enough to be comfortable with playing structured offense against it. Switching to a Zone Defence can have the effect of making the opposition pull up and try to do something special against the defence. In some cases, coaches will even call a time out to plan what course of action to take.

The situations described above will not be the only exclusive element that leads to success when using a Zone Defence. The defence itself still needs to be effectively implemented on the floor for the play to be carried out. The more effective a Zone Defence is, the more it can be used regularly and with greater confidence of it standing the offensive onslaught of an opposition. This confidence will be highly valuable in focusing the team’s effort and energy into the defence.

The Full Court Press is one of the very special defences a team can utilise to play attacking basketball without being in possession of the ball. The Full Court Press can provide a number of positives for a team such as scoring in runs and decreasing an opponent’s lead quickly. If performed poorly however a Full Court Press can become an Achilles Heel for a team resulting in easy scoring opportunities. One of the more common sighted indications of a struggling or poor Full Court Press is the ability for the offense to break the trap and make lay-ups.

Scoring Happens

An offense scoring against a Full Court Press will happen. This does not mean the Press is not working or ineffective. It just means the defence needs to be evaluated and improved within the context of the games play (Photo Source: dannybollinger).

No defence in the modern game of basketball can be a solution to all the problems a team is likely to face from an ever expanding range of offenses. Look through the countless resources available around developing an offensive system and there is literally millions of articles, books, philosophies and tweaks developed every year. Not only at the elite level but also from the humble coach within the school gym refining their coaching craft.

To meet this offensive onslaught, defences will also need to develop and adapt. A weakness however is all about perspective, and with regards to a Full Court Press this is really about what a coach is willing to give an offense in exchange for taking away other opportunities. For a Full Court Press the balance of risk and reward is focused around defensive pressure extending into the full court. Every inch of the court becomes an opportunity to a deflection, steal and backcourt or shot clock violation. The risk is that an offense may break the Full Court Press and make lay-ups or quick scoring opportunities. How this is evaluated within a game is for the coach to analysis, but just because an offense makes a lay-up does not mean the defence is broken. No defence is successful a hundred percent of the time, in fact, many coaches would be happy with a lot less.

No Uncontested Lay-ups

When looking at the possible outcomes from a broken Full Court Press one of the results can be a lay-up. This however, is very different to an uncontested shot. Just because a lay-up is the final shot does not mean it should be uncontested. Defenders when behind the ball should be drilled to recover in a specific way so to limit the possible chances of an easy scoring opportunity. Scrambling defensive transition is still part of the game, even when employing a Full Court Press.

Part of the implementation of a Full Court Press is for players and coaches to understand how to react to when the Full Court Press in broken. Where should each player move to and what should they be looking for. As this understanding and additional increased commitment to recovering in transition is implemented, over time the number of lay-ups should start to decrease even in broken trap situations. While a shot may not be stopped, the further away from the basket it is taken the less successful it becomes. So turning a lay-up into a mid-range jump shot can have a significant effect on an oppositions completions against the press.

Fast Break

One of the more common phenomenon that happens as a result of a lay-up is both the defence and offense tend to stall. The defence becomes deflated from the points being scored and therefore the trap being broken. While the offense feels, they have survived a very challenging situation and react by taking a breath.

A Lay-up for the defence should signal the opportunity for a Fast Break or explosive Primary Transition against the fully extended offense. Offensive players can be very slow in changing from offense to defence especially when facing a Full Court Press. This should be exploited often so even if the offense expends effort to break the trap, they then have to turn and sprint the stop a basket at the opposite end of the floor. This a key to attacking basketball and the mindset behind an effective press.

Fatigue

One warning sign related to lay-ups against a Full Court Press is fatigue. A defensive team and coach need to be very vigilant concerning the exposure of a team to too high an energy commitment when using a Full Court Press. If lay-ups are the result of the players running on empty there either needs to be a rotation of fresh players or a change in the defensive strategy being employed.

If looking to use a Full Court Press then a team needs to practice under fatigued conditions so the likelihood of poor performance as a result can be gradually reduced. Through training and development of greater stamina a team’s Full Court Press will improve and the ability to convert more points from this tactic will increase.

The Full Court Press has always been a very solid tactic due to the challenge in presents to players with the ball about what they can do and what their teammates must do. Forcing offensive players to make reads and choices leads to problems if the individuals are not well drilled. Lay-ups though should not be the only measure a coach is concerned with. Think about a Full Court Press in the context of the game, is it really being exploited any more regularly than your other defensive options?

The One and Done Fast Break Drill looks to promote the physical activity and intensity of players displayed when advancing the ball up the floor. This is achieved within the drill by limiting the amount of dribbles any one player can take at any one time. The One and Done Fast Break Drill will help a team to increase their effort and offensive awareness by asking players even more than one pass away from the ball to take an active responsibility in advancing a ball down the court.

The One and Done Fast Break Drill starts by having three players line-up along the baseline at one end of the court. The court is broken up into three lanes. The middle consists of the width of the Keyway from one end of the floor to the other. While the wings extend from the edge of the keyway to the sideline for width.

One and Done Fast Break Drill Diagram 1

There are three defenders one the court matching up against each offensive player.

The aim of the One and Done Fast Break Drill consists of the three offensive players moving the ball from one end of the floor to the other.

Offensive players continue to create passing opportunities off the ball all the way down the floor by utilising leads, cut backs and changes of direction in movement. Each offensive player must stay within their designated lane.

Once an offensive player has the ball, they are only allowed to take one dribble. Because of this situation, players will have to become very effective in choosing when and how to use this dribble while working into a better passing situation for their teammates.

Defenders should look to bump and stay with their defensive assignment as close as possible.

The ball can be passed across lanes, skipped, and passed backwards initially.

Variation

If players are struggling to be able to work within the guidelines outlined, then additional dribbles can be afforded to the offensive players when trying to move the ball from one end of the floor to the other.

To provide a different aspect to the One and Done Fast Break Drill once the ball is passed into the three-point area at the opposite end of the floor players can then progress the drill into a 3 v 3 scenario. Players can move in any area. In this situation, the drill will finish either when the offensive team scores or the defensive players secure possession of the ball.

To help keep the One and Done Fast Break Drill fresh think about adding additional rules to the activity. for example:

The ball must be passed across each of the three lanes when advancing up the court.

Players can only utilise a certain type of pass

The One and Done Fast Break Drill looks to provide a challenge for players in performing a very simple task in moving the ball up the basketball court. Within many teams there are commonly seen issues in having all players on the court feel an urgency in taking part within a fast break. The One and Done Fast Break Drill looks to make this issue a thing of the past with all three offensive players needing to be very active in creating opportunities to advance the ball.